noun · 3 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot
Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.
Sound
Pronunciation
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General-American:/ˈsɑːɹˌkæzəm/
Received-Pronunciation:/ˈsɑːˌkæzəm/
US:Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
CMU ARPABET:S AA1 R K AE2 Z AH0 M
Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.
1
noun
Meaning 1
Use of acerbic language to mock or convey contempt, often using verbal irony and (in speech) often marked by overemphasis and sneering.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: uncountable
Examples
2015, Alex Kozinski, Demuth v. County of Los Angeles, 798 F.3d 837, 839 (9th Cir. 2015). While challenging someone equipped with a badge, handcuffs and a gun to “arrest me” was unwise on Demuth’s part, we fail to see what legal difference her statement makes. Demuth certainly could not authorize her own arrest and, in any event, Li could not reasonably have believed that Demuth was volunteering for handcuffs. Demuth was obviously employing “a literary device known as sarcasm.” [Citation omitted.] Her statement was a snide way of refusing; no reasonable officer could have thought otherwise.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
2
noun
Meaning 2
An individual act of the above.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: countable
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
3
noun
Meaning 3
witty language used to convey insults or scorn--Jonathan Swift
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
Examples
he used sarcasm to upset his opponent
irony is wasted on the stupid
Satire is a sort of glass, wherein beholders do generally discover everybody's face but their own
Etymology tree Ancient Greek σᾰρκᾰ́ζω (sărkắzō) Proto-Indo-European *-mos Proto-Indo-European *-mós Ancient Greek -μός (-mós) Ancient Greek σαρκασμός (sarkasmós)der. Late Latin sarcasmus English sarcasm From Late Latin sarcasmus, from Ancient Greek σαρκασμός (sarkasmós, “a sneer”), from σαρκάζω (sarkázō, “to gnash the teeth (in anger)”, literally “to strip off the flesh”), from σάρξ (sárx, “flesh”).
Across languages
Translations
67 source translations are retained for this English entry.
